hindi mo ako kailangang kilalanin. (know me… at your own risk)

Book Review: Dear John by Nicholas Sparks

Characters:

John Tyree
Savannah Lynn Curtis

Plot:

She was a mountain girl, gifted and sweet, raised by attentive parents, with a desire to help those in need; he was a tattooed army grunt, hard around the edges, and largely a stranger to his own home.

They fell in love together almost only a week when he’s home for vacation when she met her at the beach. They confessed their love for each other when she brought him to see the house that they are building for the Hurricane victims. He brought her to special places to eat and walk at the beach while planning on how they’ll keep in touch in spite of the distance between them. When he took a vacation the next year, she introduced him to her parents and the time was so fast yet their days together are only few. They made love, had quarrel, and planned for marriage when he returns.

September 11 bombing had happened and he took another two-year service for the army. Exchange of letters between Savannah and him began to gradually skip a day or two. Neither did she mention how she feels about how she can’t see him because of the incident. When one day, he got a letter from her saying something about breaking up, and that’s how he got hurt so much. His dad got sick and that’s how he began to build friendship with him even though he knows that his father’s passion for coins were the only ones he can talk about well with him. When according to Savannah, his dad is suffering Asperger’s, routinely actions.That makes him feel almost well in spite of his condition. Six weeks after he returned to Germany, his father died. He returned for the funeral and decided to let the attorney sell the house.

He went to Lenoir, deciding to see Savannah again. He found a way to know where she now lives. It’s a ranch with title about “Hope and Horses”. He got to see her again, and she was suprised. He noticed that she now have a wedding ring, and knew that it was Tim, the guy way back before when he met her at the beach in Wilmington. He was a good guy. Maybe a lot better than him. But it was obvious that they still love each other. She asked him to go back the next day to meet her husband, and so he did. He just didn’t expected that he’ll meet him at the hospital. He was diagnosed for Melanoma, a poor guy. John knew that Tim love Savannah so much. That’s why he decided to sell the coin collection of his father to donate and help Tim in his diagnosis, but it has been anonymous to the couple.

As John, behind the darkness, watched Savannah outside the ranch, he saw her look at the full moon so intently like what they promised each other long ago. And that made him feel like they were together again.

Reaction:

This is another book by Nicholas Sparks that made me cry, the last song is the first one of course. I expected them to break up in the end because of what was said in the prologue. And i was proven right during the latter part of the story. It was just so realistic. Time is what was lacking in their relationship, although they keep in touch by writing each other. They haven’t seen each other for years, and so she finds comfort with her friend, who she’s also consoling for the loss of his parents. Tim’s character was not villainous and he played a very nice role in the story. He’s been kind to John when Savannah and John went out together during their days. But John knew that Tim has a special feeling for her even before. Well, all i can say is that she must have waited for him for he truly loves her. I mean, who on Earth will do that?, considering the distance and the war? Ok. It’s really a tearjerker and the story makes me want to read continuously up until the end, although most all of the time it was John who narrates the whole events of the scene. Is he for real? I wanna find someone like him, ok cliche.